


Eight Drabbles A-Randoming

by Lauren (notalwaysweak)



Category: Big Bang Theory
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-29
Updated: 2011-03-29
Packaged: 2017-10-17 09:03:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/175184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notalwaysweak/pseuds/Lauren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eight drabbles written as part of <img/><a href="http://medusemoisie.livejournal.com/profile"><strong>medusemoisie</strong></a>'s <img/><a href="http://community.livejournal.com/bigbang_land/profile"><strong>bigbang_land</strong></a> birthday exchange gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eight Drabbles A-Randoming

**Author's Note:**

> Characters belong to Chuck Lorre etc. I am making no money off this venture unless someone works out the squee-to-dollar conversion rate.

Raj speaks their language, but speaks it differently enough that people look at him strangely. His lapses into silence around women become silence around people in general.

The stars can’t hear him speak and they, alien in a completely different way, become his closest companions.

How everything changes is that he’s at the Comic Center and reaches for the latest _Justice League_ at the same time as this dorky short white guy, who apologizes automatically and then starts talking about Batman, shoving his glasses up on his nose, and Raj responds, and _this_ is a language he can share: geekese.

* * *

Now George is gone Mary doesn’t bother to hide her smoking in the car; she just does it on the back porch where she can take a few minutes of peace for herself and think about her scattered family. Oh, George Jr and Missy may live just across the bay in Houston, but they might as well be in Alaska, and as for Shelly, well, even when he lived at home his mind was always somewhere else.

She has her church, of course, and her sewing circle, and the folks at bingo, but sometimes, oh God, she feels so _alone_.

* * *

Her first day at the Cheesecake Factory is an unmitigated disaster. She can’t find a uniform that fits right, so the skirt comes down to mid-calf, plus the v-neck of the yellow top gapes ridiculously and even with her white blouse underneath it she’s sure she’s exposing far too much skin. That’s before she even gets out onto the floor and fouls up four orders, spills three drinks, and gets ketchup all down her front.

“I thought I was smarter than this!” she wails at the end of the shift.

Penny hugs her. “It’s okay, Bernadette. You’ll pick it up.”

* * *

Leonard’s unsure how he talks Penny into coming to the Ren Faire, but it’s the promise of corn dogs that apparently sways her, since as soon as she spots the stand she’s reaching for her purse. Sheldon stops complaining about her anachronistic leather corset when she buys him a corn dog.

When they encounter the dancers, she’s hooked.

Leonard doesn’t join in but watches as the experienced dancers show her the steps. Before long she’s moved from the stately [pavane](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYydUxgJ9H8)* to a [round dance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk2B_Nwyw5Q)** that, as the pairs twirl around each other, seems physically impossible.

Penny makes _everything_ seem possible.

* * *

Sheldon thinks of himself as one of the noble gases: stable, eight electrons in his outer shell, unlikely to do anything unpredictable. (Some people call them “inert”, but he doesn’t carry the analogy that far.)

Leonard’s a halogen of some sort. Seven electrons. Not _quite_ stable. He needs someone else to bond with to be complete, so when he and Penny finally start dating he seems to settle down somewhat.

When Leonard gets ignominiously dumped, Sheldon remembers that those elements with only one electron in their outer shell are violently reactive, and realizes that he should have seen this coming.

* * *

Howard lies in bed, eyes closed but mind whirring. His mother’s watching _Glee_ and he’s in a maudlin mood so the half-heard lyrics (“Well, I’ve been afraid of changing, “cause I’ve built my life around you”) resonate around his head, bouncing off his thoughts about Bernadette.

He can’t believe she kicked him out and at the same time isn’t surprised. He realizes now how unreasonable he was being, how idiotic he’s frequently been.

Why does she forgive him every time?

He’s not sure. But he’s determined to grow the hell up for her.

After all, he _is_ getting older, too.

* * *

They can’t decide what to call their relationship. If Amy has “single” on her profile, her mother will get suspicious. If Sheldon has “in a relationship” on his, Missy will tell their mom, and then he’ll suffer the interrogation of a lifetime, since he’s still insisting to her that Amy is a girl and his friend but not his girlfriend.

(“Like Penny. How do you not understand this, Mom?”

“Oh, I understand all right. What I don’t understand is why she’s _not_ your girlfriend.”

“Mom!”

“Don’t argue with me, Shelly.”)

Finally they settle on “it’s complicated”, because it really _is_.

* * *

Being a waitress wasn’t the dream. When Penny’s still fake-smiling her way through shifts and pretending she doesn’t mind the hideous yellow uniform and plodding up the stairs at the end of every eight-hour round of torture after three years, she wonders if this is anyone’s dream or only a nightmare.

But when she gets to her landing and the door to 4A opens and she’s welcomed into the smell of takeout and the sound of _Star Trek_ and the sight of their four smiles, it’s all okay.

She loves all four of them, and that’s dream enough for her.

**Author's Note:**

> * A pavane is basically walking around in a circle in a very dignified way while subtly checking out who else is in your vicinity.
> 
> ** Newcastle. The reason for my LJ interest 'not dancing newcastle'. It is a bugger to learn but a wonder when you get it right.


End file.
